Melissa Green
Learning Resources Division
Greetings!
I'm working as part of a team to revise the Sac City web site. Watch for details. As I'm working on this project during Spring 2007, I am adding to the important criteria I look for before buying software:
I am the Instructional Development Coordinator at Sacramento City College, where it is my pleasure to work with wonderful colleagues interested in teaching and learning. Sometimes we are discussing technology, but always we are interested in applying effective instructional strategies to our classrooms, labs or online resources. For major projects, I am currently supporting online classes using Blackboard and the new Manila web development server. While there is a challenge to technology, there is also a technology challenge. These are exciting times! A colleague just asked "Is there a word for fear of technology?" You bet. But there must be a chocolate bar to calm my nerves...
Welcome to Sacramento City College!
Melissa Green
When is an LMS like a car stereo? Or maybe the other way around. To comply with California's hands free cell phone law, I upgraded my car stereo to have a Bluetooth connection.
Ok, this small electronics box has some of the standard stereo features but many more. I keep the user guide handy because some of the features and icons are not very intuitive. In fact, some of the features have me screaming while driving. I did not like the inconvenience of sitting in my car in the driveway picking out the features I wanted to use. Urggh. So here is the lesson: 1) Go with the familiar features of an LMS/Stereo, 2) Don't try complicated features in the beginning, 3) Get setup before going online/the road, 4) Have a plan B for alternatives, and 5) Keep the manual handy.
In my daily conversations with faculty, a common recommendation is to "take an online class." This semester I'm following my own advice - well, almost. I am taking a hybrid course, where we meet the instructor f2f one day each week and have online assignments and lab work for the other instructional day. As most students, I will appreciate the flexibility of this arrangement and must calendar my time to be sure to isolate reading and assignment time.
I just screamed! For the life of me I could not remember the steps to creating an autoreply message in Outlook (on Windows)! I had done this successfully three months ago. But now the online help feature failed me and nothing seemed to work. Urggh. Everyone around me was on a deadline of their own. If I wanted this feature, it was up to me to figure it out. The Outlook Template is an illusive file type. I finally found it after sending the message to myself and looking at File > Save As. What a pain!
Later I'll be telling why "display" and XML are the new additions to my list.
Office: LR 107
greenmj@scc.losrios.edu
Stop by often!
916-558-2636 voice
916-558-2114 FAX
This page was last updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 4:17:30 PM